BCCI's incomes nosedive, could be worse this year

Crores paid in taxes & reduced bank rate among the reasons cited for the fall in 2012-13.

The Champions League (won by Sydney last year) emerged a surprise winner even as IPL's revenues plummetted sha …

The earnings of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the game’s richest body in the world, took a hit in 2012-13, compared to the previous year’s revenues.

Its gross income was a massive Rs. 93.14 crore lower than that in 2011-12 and the surplus was a significant Rs. 60.37 crore less, forcing the Board to take several cost-cutting measures, like trimming down the coaching and administrative staff at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.

Interestingly, the income through media rights, the biggest source, showed a healthy increase — as did the income from the 2012 Champions League T20 and 'surplus from tours’. But the substantial income from these three sources was not enough for the BCCI to either improve on the earnings of 2011-12 or exceed its own budgeted figures for 2012-13.

BCCI officials are, however, more worried that when the 2013-14 balance sheet will be made, the income from media rights would be lower as very few matches are scheduled at home.

(C) Mail TodayTill last week, only Australia was scheduled to visit India to play seven ODIs and one T20 International. On Sunday, the BCCI announced that the West Indies are being invited to play a few matches this November, a clear desperate measure to boost income, though some might say the two Tests are being added so that Sachin Tendulkar could play his 200th Test at home.

In any case, the income from the West Indies tour would only "marginally" improve the Board’s bank balance. Assuming the West Indies plays seven matches, as is being proposed, the BCCI would earn Rs. 225.4 crore, at a rate of Rs. 32.2 crore per match.

The Rupert Murdoch-owned STAR India Ltd., which holds the media rights, pays the BCCI Rs. 32.2 crore for each international match that India plays at home. It will continue to pay this amount till March 31, 2014 — when the remaining period of the scrapped contract with Nimbus ends — and will pay Rs. 43.20 crore per match from April 1, 2014 to March 31, 2018.

Although in 2012-13, the BCCI earned Rs. 48.7 crore less than its budgeted Rs. 822.94 crore from media rights, this was much more than the Rs. 437.75 crore it made in 2011-12. This was possible because the Board hosted 15 international matches in 2011-12 and 23 in 2012-13.

The revenue from the lucrative IPL, one of the biggest sources of income, has also plummeted from Rs. 265.14 crore in 2011 — the only time in its six-year history when as many as 10 teams competed — to Rs. 152.90 crore made from the 2012 edition.

The BCCI, now worth Rs. 3,624.81 crore, had budgeted to earn Rs. 160.96 crore in 2012-13, but it ended up making Rs. 8.06 crore less.

BCCI officials cite a variety of reasons — from reduction in bank interest rates to hundreds of crores paid in taxes – for the fall in income in 2012-13. "A major reason is that this year we paid a lot of taxes under protest. Also, because banks reduced interest rates by up to one per cent on fixed deposits, and it meant we lost out on some money on that count too," a member of the BCCI’s outgoing finance committee told Mail Today. The BCCI earned Rs. 101.52 crore in bank interest in 2011-12 and had budgeted Rs. 99.83 crore for 2012-13. But it earned only Rs. 85.29 crore — Rs. 14.54 crore less that the projected figure.

"However, the good news is that interest rates have again gone up and it would show in the next balance sheet," said the official. On the late inclusion of a home series with the West Indies, he said: "That would give us only little relief."

The surprise element in the balance sheet is the income from the Champions League T20, which is not as popular with Indian fans as the IPL, probably because it’s played in the latter half of the year.

The BCCI earned Rs. 69.28 crore from the 2012 edition, which was held in South Africa. This was Rs. 21.65 crore more than what it made from the 2011 tournament staged in India.

The only other major head under which the Board exceeded its budgeted amount was 'surplus from tours’. It had aimed to make Rs. 171.62 crore, but eventually amassed Rs. 178.46 crore — Rs. 6.84 crore more than its own projection.